Leap into the Future
by Writtenwoes
Summary: About five years from now, what has happened to the zoo we know and love? Are Kowalski and Anna still together? What about Rico and Millie? Are new penguins soon to be arriving at the zoo?
1. Chapter 1

Kowalski paced back and forth in the H.Q. Why had the humans taken Anna away again? She had seemed fine even that morning. Tired, yes, but her insomnia wasn't a new thing. He was worried about her cancer returning; maybe the humans had seen something he, her husband, had missed.

"Kowalski?" Skipper asked, realizing how nervous and out-of-it his soldier was. "Kowalski? Kowalski!"

Jumping out of his trance, Kowalski turned to Skipper. "What?"

"Why don't you go to the veterinary clinic, and see what's going on?"

Kowalski's shoulders sagged. "I can't. The humans will notice that I'm missing from the cute-and-cuddly routine. It's midday."

Skipper smiled at Kowalski's concern for Anna. The two of them were evidently still in love; so much so that they had tied the knot about a year ago. Already, their marriage had lasted longer than Skipper's had to that doll. Besides, he reminded himself, they had dated for almost five years before the wedding. "We'll cover for you, Kowalski. That's what friends are for, or so I'm told."

Kowalski beamed at his superior, "Thank you, Skipper. I'll be back as soon as I find out what's up." And without wasting any time, since he was worried, he flipped out of the habitat and found himself running to get to the vet clinic.

Once he located Anna's room, he simply leapt up into the window. In her room, Anna was inside one of those metal cages, slumping against the wall. She looked shocked.

He allowed himself one minute of adoring her before he heard the bad news. He still thought she looked as beautiful as the first day he had seen her, even if she was six years older now. Her eyes were still as green, her head feathers were still that beautiful shade of cream that they had always been. She simply sat there, her pupils contracting in the light from the window, when she looked up and saw him standing in the windowsill.

"Oh, Kowalski…" she said, sounding relieved and yet…still slightly dazed. Standing, she pressed herself up against the wall of the cage closest to him.

"Why do the humans have you here, Anna?" Kowalski asked, crossing the room. "Do you have any theories?"

She seemed hesitant. "I do know why, but…I can't believe it."

Kowalski felt his worse fears confirmed. "It's your cancer, isn't it?" Unbelievably, Anna hadn't had a relapse since he had left her, so many years ago now…she had been so happy when the year marks had gone by.

She shook her head, making him look at her questionably. "The humans…they were talking about it when they came in a few minutes ago…" she sighed, closing her eyes as if bracing herself. "I…I'm pre-egg."

Kowalski felt like he couldn't breathe. Pre-egg was the bird way of saying 'I'm pregnant'. He couldn't seem to come up with anything to say. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to be feeling, either. He was a sudden mixture of excited, shocked, nervous, scared (for her), and many more he couldn't categorize in one glance. "W-what?"

Anna opened her eyes, and he saw the apprehension and joy hidden there. She was just as confused and startled as he was. "We're going to be parents, Kowalski." She whispered, barely able to say it.

Kowalski's head was reeling. His brain, for all its knowledge, couldn't come up with a comment to make besides a single word sentence. "…w-when?"

Anna knew what he was asking. "Today. They're taking me in to another room in a few minutes, in fact. They're so excited; this is the first penguin hatching they've had in captivity here."

Kowalski felt instantly more nervous. "So…I can't be with you?"

She looked like she was tearing up. "Afraid not, Kowalski."

He didn't have time to say anything else before the vets came back in the room. Diving to the cover of the curtains, Kowalski peered out from behind them. They were talking amongst themselves, as they undid Anna's cage door lock.

He knew she was looking for him and where he had went to. As the humans picked her up and held her over their shoulders, he stepped out from behind the curtains. She saw him, and gave him a weak smile.

_Oh, Anna…_he thought, feeling weak himself.

Forgetting his promise to Skipper, Kowalski stayed in the vet room, pacing in the corner. He could barely think straight. He didn't even try to keep track of time. The world was frozen for him, since he had no way of knowing what was going on with Anna. Was she ok? He wished he knew.

It must have been much later in the day when she came back to the other room where Kowalski was, since the sun was no longer in the middle of the sky. Orange-ish light came in from behind the curtains, and no longer reached the table where they set Anna back in her cage.

Kowalski held his breath as the vet left the room, and then he flew over to where Anna was. Not literally of course, since even burning love can't change the fact that penguins can't actually fly.

"Anna?" he asked, since she was dozing off. Her eyelids fluttered.

"Kowalski?" she said, sitting up shakily. She seemed exhausted.

"Are you alright?" Kowalski asked, and then he gulped before he could ask the next question. "…Is…is the egg?"

Anna smiled at his concern. "I'm fine. Just the stupid medicine they gave me made me sleepy. And the vets still have them, so I don't know. I didn't really even get to see them before the vets whisked them off…" and then she choked up. "I don't even know if they're alright!"

"Anna…" Kowalski said, feeling her concern settle on him too. And then her whole comment registered. "…them? They're? You mean…"

Anna smiled through her tears. "Yes, Kowalski. Twins."

Since they were both emperor penguins, the fact that Anna had laid two eggs wasn't unusual. Simply surprising, since it hadn't been expected. But Kowalski felt his mind settle back into the numb state that it had been for the past few hours.

"T-twins?" he confirmed, squeezing her flipper through the grating. She simply nodded.

Kowalski was fiddling with the stupid lock on the cage door. They had recently replaced the simple pin tumblers with something far harder for a penguin to open; a cage lock that you had to have simple finger manipulation to open, if you were a human. But Kowalski couldn't squeeze the mechanism hard enough to open the door. He needed more leverage on this side.

Jumping off of the table top, he searched around the room for something that might work. But before he could find anything, the vet came in, reverently holding something in his cupped hands.

_Perhaps two somethings, _Kowalski thought, feeling dizzy as he stood still, hoping the vet didn't notice him.

But the vet mumbled to Anna as he opened her cage door. "And…here you go…your little eggs. Who's the father, I wonder? Could it be the tallest? I've seen you spending a bunch of time with him over the past few years." He asked her the question like he was talking to himself, since he obviously didn't expect Anna to answer.

_It's me, _Kowalski thought, _I'm the father. _He couldn't believe it. If he had awakened that morning with this knowledge, he wouldn't have believed it then either. This was happening too fast to register.

The vet swung the cage door closed, but sly Anna stuffed a corner of the blanket in between the door and the cage wall, so the lock didn't click.

The vet hadn't noticed. "Well, you'd better take care of those, now. Perhaps both will somehow survive until hatching."

And then the vet was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

It seemed to take forever for Kowalski to climb back up to the table top. He kept fumbling as he went. _I'm nervous about seeing them, _he realized. _I'm nervous about being a father. I don't think I've read a book on this…what do I do...?_

But when he reached the top, he waddled slowly over to the cage, where Anna had swung the cage door back open for him. She was staring down lovingly at two white ovals nestled in the raggedy blanket they had given her for warmth.

Kowalski gulped. "…Anna?"

She looked up at him, smiling. "Well, come on, Kowalski! They can't walk yet, so you have to come to them." She had that teasing tone in her voice that Kowalski had (eventually) learned meant that she joking with him. "Besides, I'm sure they want to meet their father."

_Father, _Kowalski realized again, _I'm a father._

He walked reverently over to the cage, hesitantly stepping inside. She stood, gently picking up one of the eggs as she did so. Cradling it in her arms, Anna stared down at it like she could see the baby penguin inside.

Kowalski reached down, so slowly and gently that it made Anna want to laugh, and picked up the remaining egg. But the minute he touched the shell, Kowalski's sharp blue eyes widened. His parental instincts were kicking in, much like they had with Eggy, but far more powerful. He suddenly clutched the egg to his chest, careful not to drop it. How could he ever have been apprehensive?

Anna tittered a little, having seen the change in her husband. "Instincts, I know. Pretty powerful, huh? I didn't think they would be so…knowledgeable."

Kowalski simply nodded, unable to remove his eyes from his egg. And then, worry struck him. Anna couldn't incubate two eggs at once, and it would be hard for him to stay in the vet clinic overnight, without detection. "How long do they want to keep you under observation?" he asked her, hoping she wouldn't say what he knew she would.

"Just for tonight," Anna said, and her voice was low. He could tell that she had figured out the dilemma as well. "I don't know what we're going to do."

"I suppose we could figure out a way to…" Kowalski heard a movement on the windowsill, and he looked over only to see Private poking his head up over the window lip, his eyes wide and mouth agape. Kowalski and Anna froze, remembering that no one else knew about their parenthood yet.

Private gasped, lost his balance, and they watched as he toppled down. They both imagined the remaining penguins asking him what he had seen, and they paled when they realized what he would tell them.

_And what will Skipper say? _Kowalski wondered, and one look at Anna's face told him they were thinking along the same lines.

Almost instantly, the remainder of the penguins were on the windowsill (minus Millie, who was attempting to join them, but she wasn't as well trained), staring at the cage where Anna and Kowalski were standing, both holding an egg.

All of the penguins gasped, rearing back, like they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

Kowalski gulped, handing Anna his egg. "I'll go talk to them," he told her, as she arranged the eggs in the blanket-nest.

Anna simply nodded. "Hurry back," she said, slowly tucking in the remaining egg.

Kowalski walked out of the cage, flipped off of the edge of the table, and landed on the windowsill where the other penguins were still staring at the cage, shocked.

"Kowalski…?" Skipper asked, his voice questioning. "What in the name of…"

Kowalski rubbed his neck nervously, averting his eyes. "I…well, Anna told me…I didn't…" a sigh. "Anna laid twin eggs. Only a few hours ago. Neither of us knew."

The silence that followed was broken only by Millie gasping. "What?" she yelled, and Rico helped her up the rest of the way. "What did you say?"

But Skipper spoke next, a strange smile breaking out on his face. "Well, congratulations, soldier!" he slapped Kowalski on the back, and Kowalski looked sheepish as he grinned.

Private's face was excited. "You mean…soon they'll be two little baby penguins?"

And Kowalski's smile faded, because he remembered the problem that he and Anna had foreseen, but he didn't want anyone else to know about it until he had come up with a solution. "Y-yes, I suppose you could put it that way, Private."

Rico just gave Kowalski a high-five, and then he realized that Millie wasn't holding his hand anymore. She was dangling from the metal table top where Anna and the eggs were, trying to reach the top.

Sighing, Rico jumped over, got on the table top, and hauled Millie up.

"Thanks," She smiled; they were engaged after quite a whirlwind relationship (they both had such a temper that they had broken up a whopping thirteen times).

"No prolem," Rico grunted, and turned to Kowalski, who looked suddenly protective. "We see tem?"

Kowalski tried to shake off the instinct feelings that told him that letting other penguins around his nest was a bad idea, reminding himself that he had known Rico and Millie for years. "O-of course," he said, looking at Anna and smiling.

"Anna! Aww…" Millie sighed, holding one of the eggs gently. "When you get away from these beautiful eggs you are in such big trouble," she said, sounding like she was talking to a baby.

Anna laughed a little, ignoring the queasy feeling that one of the other penguins could hurt her eggs. _Stupid instincts, _she thought, glancing at Kowalski, who was talking with Skipper in a concerned tone as they walked over to the cage. It gave her comfort to know that he was close.

Private squealed when he saw them, clapping his hands excitedly. "They're so cute!" he said, dancing from foot to foot.

Anna tried to stifle her laughter, knowing that cuddly Private would be very hurt indeed if she so much as giggled at him.

When Rico saw them, he stayed back a few feet, looking a little disgusted, but Anna didn't take it personally. She knew he still had issues with gooey love mush, even from Millie, (not that he got much from Millie, anyway) and all the lovey talk right now must have been bothering him immensely.

Skipper simply smiled, and didn't say much. He seemed to be remembering something, and Anna knew that he was also trying to keep up his public face as the tough, emotionless leader.

Kowalski walked around to Anna's other side, seeming concerned.

"What's wrong?" Anna asked him, quietly. The other penguins were having a discussion over one of the eggs.

"I just can't figure out how we're going to pull off the-" Kowalski was cut off mid-sentence by Millie, who pushed past him to Anna.

"So have you decided what you want to name them?" she asked, "You'd need two boy names and two girl names."

Anna was surprised at being asked so soon. "Um…we haven't really thought about it yet," she looked at Kowalski for support, who didn't look to happy that he'd been interrupted. "But we have a few weeks, still."

"I concur," Kowalski said, but then they all froze. They heard the vet coming down the hall, talking to Alice.

"Hide!" hissed Skipper, and everyone but Anna ran to hide wherever they could reach. Some behind the curtain, a few on the other side of the table. Kowalski hid near the cage, behind a cylinder of cotton balls.

Anna quickly shut the cage door, hiding the eggs amongst the blanket. A few seconds later, she frowned. Why had she hidden the eggs? _Instinct, _she realized. _Wow, it really takes over your system, doesn't it?_

"…right in here," the vet said, as the door swung open.

Alice sounded unimpressed. "Wow. A penguin with eggs. Interesting. So, can I go now? I have things to do."

The vet seemed put out. "But…aren't you excited? Those little penguins will become the first born in captivity in New York!"

"Yep. That's interesting, Doc." Alice was already leaving. "Just tell me when you want her to be taken back to her pack. Or rookery or whatever. Speaking of which, I guess I should check up on them. They have a tendency to sneak off."

The vet followed her out, sighing.

Kowalski was indignant. "Our children are indeed interesting!" he fumed, watching Anna roll her eyes playfully at his comment.

Skipper and the others were all visible in seconds. "We have to get back to the habitat. Even you, Kowalski."

His shoulders slumping, Kowalski tossed a sad glance at Anna. "I'll be back as soon as Alice leaves us alone."

Anna nodded, looking suddenly worried. "I'll be thinking about what we can do."

Kowalski nodded as well, as the other penguins jumped to the ground outside the veterinary clinic. "I will, too, of course."

And then the whole group of penguins were gone except Kowalski, who was standing on the windowsill. He turned, waved once, and jumped over to the ground.

Anna sighed, still deeply in love with him. Cuddling the eggs to her, trying to keep them warm, she wished he was already back with her.


	3. Chapter 3

About an hour later, Kowalski was back in the room. "Sorry, Anna." He said, "Alice kept us for forever, just staring at the habitat for absolutely no reason."

Anna laughed. "It's ok, Kowalski."

He reached the cage with wire cutters, procured from seemingly nowhere, and snipped the line keeping the braces in place. "There! Now it won't ever close, and we don't have to worry about that anymore. Plus, the humans won't notice. Quite a solution."

Anna pushed the cage door open. "Speaking of solutions," she said, "I can't come up with one for tonight."

Kowalski's brows furrowed. "I think I might have one, but it'll be risky."

She didn't say a thing as he picked up an egg, nestling it between his feet like Anna had done with its twin.

"What if I spend the night here, but so that the humans won't see me as the alarm engages, I'll hide over there, beneath that desk. Then, once the alarm is on, I'll simply sneak back up here and help you incubate the eggs. And, when morning comes, I hand the egg back to you, and hide in the desk drawer as the vet comes in to unlock the window and shut down the alarm. They'll never even know I was here, if everything goes according to plan." He sounded reasonably confident, as always.

Anna thought it over. "What about the security camera?" she pointed up at the turned-off camera sitting in the corner of the room.

"I'll put a drawing of the room over the lens," he said, blowing off her concern. "The humans will have no idea."

"Sounds like quite a plan," Anna said, yawning.

Kowalski smiled at her. She was the sweetest thing. "Hopefully, it will work."

"I'm sure it will, Kowalski." Anna said, "I'm sure it will."

Only two hours after that, it was nine-o-clock, and the vet entered the room to turn on the security camera and the alarm system. He locked the window.

Kowalski was standing under the desk, pressed back up against the wooden wall. He had, of course, filled in the other penguins on his plan, and they had all gladly agreed that it was a good idea.

"Just be careful, Kowalski," Skipper had warned, "Keep your wits about you."

Clutching the pencil drawing in one flipper, he pulled himself around as the camera swiveled the other way. _Now all I need to do is, _he thought, pulling himself up onto the desk, quickly cutting a piece of tape, _get to the camera lens._

The vet closed the door, just as Kowalski leapt up and slapped the drawing onto the camera.

Anna smiled in relief, and he reached the other side of the room in seconds.

"That was impressive," Anna complimented, as the cage door opened and Kowalski stepped inside.

His chest swelled with pride. "Well, thank you." He said, settling in besides Anna. "I have been practicing for almost fifteen years now."

Anna gently leaned against his shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around her. "Today has been the strangest day of my life," she said, sounding exhausted. "but it sure is ending nicely."

Kowalski beamed as he closed his eyes, aware that a little son or daughter of his was sitting between his feet. "It has been a rather strange day, hasn't it?"

But Anna didn't answer. She was already asleep.

Kowalski didn't sleep well that night. He was constantly awakened by odd noises, or a banging in the distance. _Alice, _he thought, _she should just go home already. _He was constantly fighting the want to do some recon, since Anna would undoubtedly wake up, and he had a reason to be where he was.

Opening his eyes, Kowalski picked up the egg he was supposed to be incubating. He stared curiously at it, trying to imagine what the baby penguin inside it looked like. Did it have its mother's eyes? His? Was it a scientist at heart? Or a writer? Or, perhaps, an artist? Soldier? All or more?

He found himself grinning. So many questions. He didn't even know if it was a female, or male.

Checking the time, he noticed that it was nearly time for him to go. The vet could be back in at any second to disarm the alarm system. Feeling disappointed, Kowalski tapped Anna on the shoulder.

"Anna?" he whispered, "I've got to leave for a few minutes."

Anna's eyelids opened slowly. "Hmm? What did you say, Kowalski?"

"I have to leave," he said.

She was upset too, but she tried not to show it. She knew it couldn't be helped. "Ok, hand me the egg," she said, settling them both into the blanket.

Kowalski scooped up the little, pearl-colored egg, unable to control the look of loving adoration that came over his face. _Better not let Skipper see me looking like that, _he thought, as he kissed Anna goodbye. _He might think I've gone soft, or something._

Leaping down from the tabletop, Kowalski hid beneath the desk. "So I'll be back shortly," he called out to Anna, who was bent over their children. "As soon as I can."

"You might not have to come back," Anna said, "I think they're going to put me out into the habitat again today."

"Oh…right." Kowalski had forgotten.

And then the vet came in, and turned off the alarm. "Ok, little penguin. Time to head back to the habitat, huh?" he picked up her cage, not noticing Kowalski make a dive to get to the window.

As Anna was carried out to the habitat, the last thing she saw was Kowalski disappearing out the window, undoubtedly heading back to the H.Q. to welcome her and their young eggs home.

As the doctor set the cage down in the habitat, Kowalski surged forward to help Anna remove the eggs from the metal deathtrap. Neither of them trusted the doctor very much, and didn't want him to take the cage away, with their little babies inside.

Rolling them out of the cage between their feet, they waddled back over to the rest of the penguin group.

"I knew it!" the doctor said triumphantly, and both Kowalski and Anna remembered what he was referencing too. They smiled.

Millie hugged her twin. "Gosh, it has been horrible having you gone! Last night was like an instant flashback to when you had that horrible relapse, minus Kowalski crying himself to sleep."

"I did not cry myself to sleep!" Kowalski was adamant.

"Whatever," Millie said, and Anna gently leaned her head against Kowalski.

"It's ok, dear," she said, and he looked down at her face. "I believe you."

Feeling triumphant, Kowalski smiled at Millie, who simply stuck out her tongue.

"I remember a day when 'twin' trumped 'boy'," Millie said, sounding like she was putting-on a hurt voice.

Anna laughed, "Yes, and I remember a day when I wasn't married and a mother."

"Like, yesterday on that last one," Millie said.

"True," Anna admitted, as Private made coochy-coo noises at the eggs.

Skipper rolled his eyes at everyone. "Time for team exercises, men."

Kowalski looked alarmed. Now that the incubation process had begun, he couldn't leave the eggs for more than ten minutes. "But…Skipper…"

"Not for you, Kowalski." Skipper said, "I'll grant you a four month break to help Anna out."

Kowalski beamed at Skipper, "Thank you, sir."

"Consider it 'maternity leave', soldier." Skipper joked, and Kowalski winced. Apparently this whole break thing was going to be peppered with sides like that.


	4. Chapter 4

Often, after the fact, the vet team at the Central Park Zoo admitted that none of them had ever seen a more dedicated set of parents. Kowalski and Anastasia worked endlessly, keeping the other going with encouraging words and smiles. Neither of them wanted to allow the end to arrive, and have failed at their positions.

By the end of the 120 days, Kowalski and Anna were falling asleep whenever they closed their eyes. They were both exhausted, but sometimes they would each keep the other up at night with names.

"What about 'Candy'?" Kowalski asked once, as Anna leaned against him outside, as they watched the sun set. The zoo was closing down, and they watched Alice shoo some die-hard tourists out the gates, their cameras' snapping last second photos.

Anna giggled. "It's cute, Kowalski, but I'm not sure how well it will work." She instantly switched her voice tone, trying out the name like she had so many others. "Candy! I need you inside! Candy? What happened here?" shaking her head, Anna concluded. "I don't think it'll work, dear."

Kowalski nodded, agreeing. "If one of them is a boy, how do you like the name 'Newton'?"

Anna gasped. "Oh, I like that!"

"You do?" he sounded pleased. "I've been turning it over in my head for a few days, and I liked it too."

"Well, what about 'Monet'?" Anna suggested, pronouncing it 'moan-A'. "He was a wonderful French artist, but I think the name would be better suited to a girl."

"I concur," Kowalski said, "And I like that. It sounds very…adorable."

Anna leaned against him, allowing the last of the suns rays to strike her face, crisscrossing over her eyelids and shining on the tip of her beak like a tiny star. "Newton and Monet." She mumbled, her eyes closing. "A French Impressionist and an English Physicist."

"Don't we need two other names?" Kowalski asked, "In case we get a double-gender like you and Millie?"

"Oh, sure, but I don't think we will need them. I have a feeling…" Anna said cryptically, her voice getting softer as she fell asleep again.

Kowalski leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I love you," he said, knowing that she didn't hear, but saying it anyways. He couldn't wait for the eggs to hatch, so they could see what the young children looked like.

_Hopefully they both look like Anna, _he thought, nudging his egg with his beak, situating it so it wasn't touching the ground. _But by my calculations, we have approximately two more days until we can find out._

Unfortunately for Kowalski, babies don't follow a set schedule. So when Anna started shaking him awake later that night, saying that the eggs were hatching, he was unprepared.

"Kowalski!" Anna squealed, holding her cracking egg in her arms, "It's hatching!"

They both leaned over the egg, looks of excitement frozen on their faces, and watched as a chip of the egg broke away. Almost instantly, a tiny orange beak filled up the crack, pecking at the rest of the shell.

Suddenly, like a time bomb, the egg shell snapped up the half-way mark, and the top part fell away. A little, fluffy, defenseless baby penguin was there, flopping out of the egg into Anna's arms.

"Oh…" Anna gasped, tears suddenly running down her face. Looking up at Kowalski, she noticed that he was crying a little too.

She cradled the baby to her, rocking it slowly, softly stroking the tiny, down-covered body with her flipper. The angles of the face suggested masculinity, and Anna smiled through her tears. "He looks just like you, Kowalski." She whispered, and he gently crouched down and rubbed its little head.

But then a sharp snapping noise made Kowalski jump. He turned to look, to see where it had come from, but then he remembered. "Our egg!" he gasped, bending down to grip the little shattering oval.

Anna and Kowalski huddled around the second egg, Anna wrapping the baby boy tighter in her warm grip.

And when the second shell cap fell away, revealing a little baby girl that reminded Kowalski sharply of Anna, he smiled lovingly. "She could be your tiny twin," he remarked, slightly dumbfounded by the moment. "She looks just like you."

Anna smiled. "So we each have our clone," she joked, as he wrapped their daughter in his arms much like Anna had done with their son. "So are we decided on the names? We need to be sure before Millie and Private wake up, because they'll both have some…er, ideas. _Interesting _ideas."

"I still like Newton and Monet," he responded, as they both looked at their baby penguins. "Don't you?"

"Yes, I do." She pressed his remaining flipper gently, looking up into his blue eyes and realizing that they were both officially parents. Then the euphoria set in. "We did it. Both of them made it, Kowalski." And Anna started crying softly again, "We actually did it."

He was relieved as well. "Of course we did, Anna!" he said, trying to sound as if he knew they would all along. "Of course we did."

As they both wordlessly admired their offspring, King Julian was suddenly pressed up against the bars of the habitat.

"Hello, you silly pen-guins!" He yelled, causing both Anna and Kowalski to jump and look up. "What are you holding in your arms there?"

Anna smiled at Kowalski, as he explained. Even Kowalski was happy enough to not be irritated at the obnoxious lemur. "Julian, meet Monet and Newton," he said, as they both introduced him to their children.

"Wait, backupasecond," Julian said quickly, as he does, crossing his eyes and touching his fingertips together. "So these are little midget penguins?"

Kowalski's eyes got that irritated look in them that they did whenever he was talking to Fred the Squirrel. "No, Julian," he explained slowly, "These are our children."

"My children?" Julian exclaims. "JJ's?"

"No! _Our_ children," Kowalski said, drawing Anna closer to him.

"…Oh. Well that is boring kingly-news," Julian said, starting to walk off.

Kowalski made a disgusted sigh, and Anna laughed good-naturedly. "What did you expect? It is Julian, after all."

"Speaking of Julian," Kowalski said, as they watched him streak across the sky, clutching his crown. "Apparently he got on the bad side of Burt again."

"Funny how he can do that so quickly," Anna muttered, and Kowalski nodded.

"Anna? Kowalski?" they heard Private's voice from behind them, and he sounded half-asleep. "I heard a yelling."

"Julian," Anna explained, turning around to face him. "Just Julian, Private."

"Oh, ok…" but then tired Private kicked a shattered piece of eggshell as he stumbled back down the habitat ladder. "Oh, hey, I found a piece of eggshell," he mumbled, and then his eyes popped open. "Hey, I found a piece of eggshell!"

He turned back around, and he gasped when he saw Monet and Newton. "G-guys?"

"Meet Newton and Monet, Private," Kowalski said, handing the bemused little penguin their tiny daughter.

Private's mouth was frozen open, as he reverently took the baby penguin. "B-but she is so cute! What's her name?"

"Monet," Anna said again, and Kowalski nodded.

Private hugged her tightly, smiling and laughing, and handed her back to her parents. "…so what's her name?"

Anna and Kowalski exchanged a worried look. "…Monet." Kowalski said slowly, cocking his head to one side as he observed Private. "Her name is Monet."

"Oh! She's so cute! What's her name?" Private asked again.

Anna was suddenly suspicious. "Private," she asked, stretching his name out as she struggled to phrase her question. "did you have any, I dunno, Peanut Butter Winkies before bed last night?"

"A few, why?" Private giggled, tickling baby Monet. "What's her name?"

Anna and Kowalski shook their heads, and sent Private back off to sleep. Goodness knows he needed it.


End file.
